Crestwood House Monsters: King Kong

KING KONG

by Ian Thorne

Copyright ® 1977 by Crestwood House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the
publisher, except for brief passages included in a review. Printed in the United
States of America.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 76-051147.
International Standard Book Numbers:

0-913940-69-0 Library Bound

0-913940-76-3 Paperback

Design - Doris Woods and Randal M. Heise.

KINO KONO

THE GREAT APE

The creature that walked like a man, but was not a
man. A beast that was so big, it could pick up people as
if they were toys. The huge black monster that
killed . . .

All of these nightmares came to life in King Kong.
At the beginning of the movie, the audience was told!

"You are going to see a story about Beauty and the
Beast." Then an old Arab proverb was quoted: "And
lo! The Beast looked upon the face of Beauty. And it
stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was
as one dead.”

The story began with Carl Denham. He was a
daredevil movie-maker of the 1930's. He would go to
faraway places: jungles, high mountains, and danger¬
ous deserts, to make thrilling movies.

Now he was on the track of the biggest thrill of all.

Denham had a map. It showed a mysterious island.
The island was supposed to be the home of a Malay
devil-god named Kong.

Denham went to the captain of a ship, Wanderer.
"Captain Englehorn," he said, "I want to hire you and
your ship to take me to Skull Island. I want to find Kong
and make a movie about him.

The captain smiled. He thought Denham was a bit
crazy. However, his money was good! "All right, we'll
help you look for your island. When we find it, we'll
help you make a movie of your monster. If he's there!"

Denham wanted a large crew. He would need
help. He filled the ship with guns and explosives. But
before he set sail, he needed one-more thing — a
beautiful girl.

"I don't want to haul a girl around," Denham told
a newspaper reporter. "But movie fans expect it.”

Denham had a strange way of getting a young

woman for his movie. He went ashore and just began
looking around. It was the time of the Great Depres¬
sion. Millions of people were out of work and very
poor.

Denham heard a scream. He was passing a fruit
stand. The owner had discovered a hungry young
woman trying to steal an apple. She was lovely.

"How would you like a job?" Denham asked. "I
can offer you money, fame, the thrill of a lifetime, and a
long sea voyage that starts at six tomorrow morning."

Ann Darrow, broke and starving, agreed to come.

The Wanderer sailed for Skull Island. During the
voyage, Denham taught Ann Darrow how to act in his
movie. All she had to do was look scared!

Ann became friendly with the ship's first mate. He
was a handsome young man named Jack Driscoll. Jack
let Ann play with his pet monkey. When Denham saw
lovely Ann and the ugly monkey, he said:

"Beauty and the Beast, eh? That's the idea for my
picture! The Beast was a tough guy. He could lick the
world. When he saw Beauty, the Beast went soft. He
forgot his wisdom . . . and the little guys got him."

The ship arrived at the mysterious island. Denham
led heavily-armed crewmen ashore. They heard natives
chanting.

They came upon the island people getting ready
to make a sacrifice to Kong! The natives were in front
of a huge wall. Behind a large, heavy door in the wall,
Kong waited for his victim.

The native chief had planned to sacrifice on6 of
the village girls. Then he saw Ann! He offered to trade
six island girls to Denham for the Golden Woman. Ann
would be a perfect victim for Kong!

Of course Denham refused the trade. The natives
became very angry. The would-be movie-makers had
to flee back to the ship.

"But we'll be back tomorrow!" Denham shouted.

HIpJM

That night, Jack Driscoll and Ann stood
under the stars.

“Denham must be mad, putting you in a
that. You're not going back there," Jack said.
"I must,” Ann said. “He has done so

'But if anything happened

I love you too, Jack,” Ann said. But tl^en
of Captain Englehorn, calling Drisqbll.

Ann gazed at the stars. They were very beautiful. If
only the drums would stop beating! They made her
very afraid.

Ann dreamed of romance. But as she stood on
deck, hands reached out for her! Men from the village
had paddled out to the ship. They grabbed Ann and
dragged her away.

The village witch-doctor chained Ann to Kong's
altar. It was like some terrible dream! Ann was in a
trance as the great gate closed, leaving her alone in
Kong's world beyond the wall.

Then Kong came and Ann screamed.

Back on the ship, Driscoll and Denham heard her
cry out. They rushed to shore with a group of armed
sailors.

"Open the gate!'' Jack ordered. His men obeyed.
They were just in time to see a huge form disappear
into the jungle, carrying Ann.

Jack cursed Denham. It was all his fault! Quickly,
he decided they would have to give chase. Englehorn
and part of the crew stayed to keep the gate open.
Jack, Denham, and the others ran into the Skull Island
wilderness after Kong.

There were other monsters on the island besides
Kong.

Dinosaurs attacked the men. Bullets had no effect
on the creatures, so Driscoll drove them off with gas
bombs. More and more dinosaurs came! Crewmen
died horribly in the jaws of the monsters.

The men tried to escape one dinosaur by crossing
a log that bridged a deep ditch. Then they saw Kong!
The huge ape, 50 feet tall, grabbed one end of the log
and shook the men off like dolls. Jack Driscoll and
Denham escaped with their lives, but the other men
died in the fall.

A tyrannosaurus attacked the mighty Kong him¬
self. The great ape placed Ann in the top of a tree.
There she watched as Kong battled the dinosaur to the
death.

Kong then took his prize and carried her off. Dur¬
ing all of the action, Kong had been very careful not to
hurt Ann Darrow. She belonged to him. He liked the
tiny, blonde creature that lay screaming in his huge
paw.

Kong climbed to his lair high in the mountains of
Skull Island. He took Ann with him. Unknown to the
monster, Jack Driscoll followed.

As Kong gazed at the frightened girl, there was a
strange cry. A giant flying lizard, a pterodactyl,
swooped down toward Kong's ledge. The beast
wanted Ann, too.

Kong gave a bellow of rage. His teeth flashed in
anger. Would any other monster dare to take Ann away
from him?

The pterodactyl flew at the ape. Kong was a match
for the flapping horror. His mighty arms reached out
and crushed the winged lizard.

During the battle, Jack reached the ledge where
Ann lay. He took her to a long vine. The two of them
began to slide down it toward the lake below.

Denham flings a gas bomb at Kong.

Kong saw them and began to pull in the vine! Ann
and Jack tumbled down ... down ... and splashed into
the saving waters of the lake. Ann and Jack fled to the
great wall —with Kong following after them.

Captain Englehorn and Denham met them. The
gate was barred; but Kong, on the rampage, broke it
down. The great ape smashed the native village.

"Get the gas bombs!" Denham shouted, and
finally Kong was conquered. He fell senseless on the
beach.

"We'll take him back with us,” Denham said. "The
whole world will pay to see this! We will be
millionaires."

19

And so Kong, wrapped in chains, was hauled into
the ship and brought to New York.

Posters and a theater signboard proclaimed his
coming!

KING KONG — 8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD!

As the people inside the theater waited, Denham
came before the curtain. He told the onlookers about
the captive from Skull Island and the curtain rose to
show the 50-foot ape.

"Look at Kong!" Carl Denham said. "He was king
and god in the world he knew. But he comes to civiliza¬
tion as a captive — a show to satisfy your curiosity.
Now I want to introduce Ann Darrow, the bravest girl I
have ever known."

Ann and Jack Driscoll stepped forward. Denham
said: "There the Beast — and here the Beauty!"

Flashbulbs from hundreds of cameras began to go
off all over the theater. Kong blinked, then roared. He
began to struggle.

"He thinks we're attacking the girl," Denham
cried.

The chains and hoops of steel that had held Kong
began to break. The audience screamed as the huge
beast began to break free. People started to run. Ann,
jack, and Denham fled into the wings of the stage.

And then Kong was free!

He bounded out into the streets of New York.

*

Some New Yorkers were riding
to work on an elevated train. Hang¬
ing on their straps and reading their
papers, they were bored.

Suddenly a face leered into the
train's window! It was King Kong. He
grabbed the train as if it were some
serpent. He lifted it from the track
and shook it. Tiny figures fell out,
but none of them were Ann Darrow.

Kong went to look for her
somewhere else.

Kong peered into the windows
of huge buildings. He went stamping
through the streets, spreading terror
as he searched for the tiny blonde
woman. In some strange way, the
50-foot giant was in love with Ann
Darrow.

Meanwhile, Denham and the
police were trying to think of a way
to stop the monster. How do you
destroy a 50-foot ape — without
destroying New York, too?

Ann Darrow and jack Driscoll waited inside a hotel
while the search went on. Jack tried to comfort Ann.
While they talked, a huge eye appeared at the window
of the hotel room.

Ann screamed, and Kong knew that he had found
his lost love. A huge, hairy paw reached into the room.
The wall crumbled.

Gently, the fingers closed around Ann's body.
Kong carried Ann away with him as Driscoll watched in
helpless horror.

Where could Kong' go? Skull Island was so far
away. Kong was trapped in a modern city. It was an un¬
familiar world. A world that was frightening —even to
a 50-foot ape.

His island home had been in a high place, so Kong
looked for the highest place he could find. He took Ann
to the Empire State Building, the highest building in the
world at that time. He climbed up its sides to the very
top, carrying Ann with him.

"There's one thing we haven't thought of," Jack
exclaimed. "Airplanes! If he should put Ann down,
they could fly close enough to pick him off!"

A call went out to a nearby Air Corps training
field. Within moments, biplane trainers were speeding
over Manhattan, ready to battle the monster with their
machine guns.

The monster gazed in surprise as the airplanes
circled him. He decided they were enemies, like the
pterodactyl on faraway Skull Island. They wanted his
beautiful little woman! He would show them that he
was still King Kong!

Carefully, the beast placed Ann on a ledge. As
Kong prepared to do battle, Jack crept out to help Ann

The pilots saw that Ann was safe. They began the
attack! Bullets poured out of machine guns, piercing
Kong's thick hide.

He crushed one of the flying tormentors. But
others dived on him. He lost his grip on the slippery
skyscraper and fell down ... down to the street below.

Ann, Jack, and Denham viewed the body of Kong.
Ann could not help wiping away a tear. Jack said, "I
know, you've just got something in your eye.”

A policeman said: "Well, Denham, the airplanes
got him.”

"Oh, no," said the movie-maker, hands in his
pockets. "It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed
the Beast."

jk

29

CHILDREN OF KONG

The movie King Kong opened in New York in
1933. It was a great success. Kong found a whole new
world of fans when it was presented on television. The
old film is still to be seen almost every year, both on TV
and in theaters. Some people believe it still will be
playing in 2001.

The man who was the "father” of Kong was
Merian C. Cooper. He was a documentary film-maker
with a fine sense of adventure, who had made movies
in Iran and Siam. He wanted to do a film about living
monsters such as African gorillas and the huge dragon-
lizards of Komodo Island.

He presented his idea to RKO Pictures. The studio
liked the idea, but decided to use models instead of liv¬
ing animals. By means of "stop-motion” photography,
the models could be made to move and seem alive.
One frame of film at a time was shot. The model was
moved a tiny bit for each frame. When the frames were
run quickly, the models looked alive.

Marcel Delgado was the model-maker who cre¬
ated Kong. Willis O'Brien was the special effects
master who brought the monster to life.

King Kong, the great ape who terrified millions,
was really a wire model covered with rabbit fur. He
was only 18 inches tall.

Merian C. Cooper's pipe dream of a fabulous mon¬
ster gave the movie world the immortal King Kong.

30

Six months after the success of King Kong, RKO
released a sequel, Son of Kong.

Poor Carl Denham! He was going to make a
million from Kong. Instead, he was sued by half the
people in New York because of the damage the great
ape did.

Denham fled civilization. He went back to Skull Is¬
land, taking with him a girl named Hilda, whom he
loved.

Denham and Hilda discovered another ape! But
the ape was much smaller than Kong, with white fur.
The 12-foot "Kiko, son of Kong” was trapped in a pool
of quicksand. When Denham and Hilda rescued him, he
became their friend.

The young ape fights a dinosaur while Denham and Hilda hide on a

Denham came to Skull Island hoping to find a
treasure which would restore his lost fortunes. Fighting
off dinosaurs on the way, the white ape led Denham
and Hilda to the gold.

Later the treasure hunters were threatened by a
crook named Hellstrom, who had killed Hilda's father
years before. Hellstrom was finally killed when the
volcanoes of Skull Island erupted. Denham, Hilda, and
the faithful crew members fled. Once when it seemed
that Denham would drown, the Son of Kong held him
above the waves until rescuers arrived. Denham was
saved, but they could not save the white ape, who sank
slowly beneath the sea.

"Poor little Kong," said Denham. "Do you think he
knew he was saving my life?"

The question was unanswered. With the gold and
Hilda, Carl Denham sailed back to civilization and
ended the movie.

33

The first of the Kong look-alikes was Mighty Joe
Young. This interesting 1949 movie used special effects
by Kong creator Willis O'Brien, who won an Oscar for
them. It also was directed by the man who directed
King Kong — Ernest V. Schoedsack.

Mighty Joe was a 12-foot gorilla. He was taken to
New York from Africa to become a night club star. But
civilization proved too much for him. He went on a
rampage, and it was ordered that he be shot on sight.

Human friends tried to rescue Mighty Joe. In the
end, Joe saves children from a burning orphanage and is
forgiven for his crimes.

In a happy ending, he goes back to Africa,
together with his friends.

Mighty Joe Young was played for laughs.

An attempt to re-create the terror of Kong took
place jri 1960. Konga was the story of a mad scientist
who used a secret serum to turn a mild chimpanzee
into an ever-growing giant ape. Carrying the scientist in
his paw, Konga stalked through London.

Instead of stop-motion photography, this movie
used a cheaper plan. An actor, dressed in a gorilla suit,
was made to seem huge by special effects.

35

By the 1960's, a new kind of monster movie had
been born. The Japanese film studio, Toho, began pro¬
ducing full-color movies starring a prehistoric monster
with radioactive breath, named Godzilla.

Godzilla was popular not only in Japan, but in the
United States, too. Among the many sequels to the
original movie was King Kong Versus Godzilla. It was
produced in 1963.

This entertaining movie was aimed at young
children, and they loved it! The monsters were funny
and lovable, as well as destructive.

King Kong seemed to have grown to at least twice
his former size as he fought with Godzilla. The clever
Japanese made two endings for the movie. In the
Japanese version, Godzilla won the big fight. In the
American version, King Kong was the winner.

Everyone knew that neither monster was really
dead. People waited eagerly for a sequel.

The meeting of the monsters! King Kong vs. Godzilla!

37

5

r£mm

King Kong is kidnapped.

King Kong Escapes (1967) had a lot of funny mo¬
ments. The great ape was captured by an evil scientist
who intended to conquer the world. He was taken to
the mountains by a fleet of helicopters, hypnotized,
and forced to dig radioactive minerals.

The radioactivity broke the hypnotic spell, and
King Kong escaped! He fled and turned up in Japan. The
evil scientist brought a robot Kong, to capture the real
ape. The climax of the movie has furry Kong fighting
robot Kong while the fate of the world hangs in the bal-

There have been

other ape monster

movies

besides

those based on

King Kong. Edgar All

an Poe's

Murders

in the Rue Morgue, the story of a k

iller-ape,

has been filmed twice.

The 1940's movies tl

lat were

made at

a lower cost incl

luded failures like Bela

Lugosi's

Ape Ma

n, and Return of

the Ape Man. In tho

ise films,

the great Dracula had to

act the role of a part-a

pe, part-

we re wo

If like monster.

A f

ar better group

of movies was Plant

;t of the

Apes. In

the original filrr

i, astronauts crash on

a planet

ruled by

intelligent apes.

The planet turns out 1

:o be the

Earth in

the distant fut

:ure, when man has

become

animal-1

ike, and the ape

s civilized.

Very good "makeup men” changed human actors
into believable apes in Planet, which was a great hit in
1968. Beneath the Planet of the Apes followed in 1970.
In it, another astronaut comes to the planet. He dis¬
covers an underground race of strange mole-like peo¬
ple who fight with the apes for mastery of the world.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) saw
three intelligent apes go back in time to modern day
Earth. They were considered a problem to humans.
Even though they were innocent, they had to flee from
the government killers.

Two other movies, Conquest of the Planet of the
Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes
(1974) continued the story. There was also a short¬
lived TV series based on the movies.

Meanwhile, the original King Kong was still popu¬
lar. Every time it was shown on TV, millions watched.
Movie producers of the 1970's began to plan not just
one but two remakes of the original Kong.

For one thing, they thought it would be exciting to
see the giant ape in color. For another, they wanted to
include more violence than had taken place in the orig¬
inal movie. In the beginning, the 1933 version of Kong
included scenes showing Kong eating people and com¬
mitting other bloody acts. These scenes were cut out
by the censor. It was thought such horrors should not
appear in a movie that would be seen by young peo¬
ple.

All that had changed by the 1970's. By then,
movies had ratings. Parents could tell by checking the
rating whether the movie was suitable for young
children. Older people were not especially scared by
scenes of gory killings any more.

King Kong was brought back to life after 43 years!
Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis made a modern day
movie of King Kong, released in 1976. Another studio
planned to re-create the old time Kong by setting their
new film in the 1930's.

The 1976 version of King Kong updated the old story.

43

The de Laurentiis movie cost 24 million dollars to
make. The title role went to a 47-foot mechanical ape.
He was made to move by 20 technicians, who worked
an electronic control board. The stop-motion Kong of
1933 had moved with a slightly jerky effect. New style
machines gave the ape-monster a smoother, more life¬
like motion. The modern ape machine was the reason
for the high cost of the movie.

44

Jessica Lange doesn't realize that Kong wants to
be friends.

The mechanical monster was used mostly in close-
ups. For long shots, such as Kong in his jungle home
and Kong destroying New York, de Laurentiis used a
man in a gorilla suit. Carefully detailed miniature build¬
ings were built. The 6-foot ape seemed to be 40 feet
tall when he rampaged among them, stomping them to
bits.

45

The plot of the new King Kong is very much like
that of the old. Only the people are changed to make
them modern. The hero is a scientist instead of the first
mate of a tramp steamer. The heroine is a hip, wise¬
cracking movie starlet. She treats the love-sick giant
ape with dry humor instead of spending her time
screaming, as the Ann Darrow of 1933 did.

The mighty Kong once again becomes a very sad
sideshow freak. Once again, he breaks free and is
hunted down. Even the airplane scene is re-created,
and this time with helicopters.

The ending must always be the same. Beauty
destroys the Beast. King Kong topples from the tower
of the World Trade Center and dies.

MONSTERS

DRACULA
GODZILLA
KINA KONG
FRANKENSTEIN
MAD SCIENTISTS
THE WOLF MAN

CRESTW00D HOUSE

\0. BOX 3427 MANKATO, MINNESOTA 56001

CRE5TWQQD HOUSE